Ray Dedrick is a fixture at Knoxville’s Alzheimer’s Tennessee Walk.
He’s hard to miss with his hair dyed purple. But this year he and his wife Tee decided it was best to sit out the walk.
Ray is facing more health challenges from the disease that is slowly stealing his memory and will eventually take his life. We first met Ray in 2016 when he agreed to let our camera chronicle his journey with Alzheimer’s.
More than two years into his diagnosis, Ray says he is managing as best he can.
“I can still make light of the situation but it is getting harder and harder to do things," he said.
Walking is proving to be a challenge these days. Tee worries he is forgetting to eat. But she can’t constantly be with him because she must work to support the family. Ray sleeps much of the day and is up most of the night.
“Taking care of myself is getting up in the morning and making it from the bed to the bathroom out of the living room onto the couch grab the remote control for the tv and sitting down,” says Ray.
Ray routinely visits his neurologist to assess the progression of the disease.
Dr. Timothy Braden begins by getting an update then puts Ray through a series of mental and physical quizzes and questions. He says Ray is exhibiting the signs of mild to early moderate Alzheimer’s.
“I think he’s had some mild changes and progression of the dementia,” says Dr. Braden. “He’s had the onset of some hallucinations which are mild at this point and may progress. He has some problems with progression of memory loss."
But Ray refuses to feel sorry for himself.
“I just don’t let myself go down that road of poor ole me.”
Instead, he chooses to remember what’s most important: his family, friends and the memories he’s still making.
As a longtime chaplain at the Smoky Mountain Speedway, Ray was recently inducted into its Hall of Fame.
“I used that to officially retire. But on the flip side of the coin, I can go to the track any time there is a race going on.”
Tee says it’s important for Ray to focus on the things he can still do.
“That is reassurance. I know this is bad but it’s ok because there is still stuff we can do.”